"Natural causes? Like my balls exploded?" laughed the longtime Canadian fight game fixture.

"The guy who put this rib out, you're as low as you can come. News like this, to anybody is no good number one, you might call it a rib but this is no good for nobody. It hurts a man's family when they start getting calls about how their loved one is reported dead."

The email, purportedly from a local wrestling promoter, was sent out in the dark of night and seemed to be designed to ensure the shock of the news would override any instinct to verify the claim. SLAM! Wrestling staff was immediately able to eyeball the Hotmail address as bogus and within minutes, took steps to inform reporters and writers who may have already started chasing industry insiders for quotes about Condello.

Condello was adamant that the true perpetrator will answer for the hurt he has caused.

Tony Condello and Mad Dog Vachon.

"It's not part of what we recognize as acceptable among the wrestlers' fraternity. And it's not acceptable in the real world either. Whoever pulled this bullshit might die before I do and if that happens, mark my words, I'll write about them -- and it'll be the truth."